With the recent popularization of a copying machine, a printer, etc., environmental standards relevant to the effect on human body in the office environment are being established mainly in Europe. Furthermore, at the time of high-speed printing, the amount of the electrostatic image developing toner consumed per unit time increases and in turn, a larger amount of a volatile organic component or powder dust diffuses. In addition, the electrophotographic process is expanding its activity area not only to letter printing, e.g., in the past office use but also to graphic use such as photographic printing, and the amount of the electrostatic image developing toner used per sheet is also increasing exponentially. Such a change in the need is accompanied by an yearly increasing requirement for an electrostatic image developing toner ensuring that even when the amount of the electrostatic image developing toner consumed per unit time is large, i.e., at the time of high-speed/mass-volume printing, a volatile organic compound or powder dust is less likely to diffuse.
In recent years, an image forming device certified by the most stringent environmental standards, “The Blue Angel”, is increasing, and in an electrophotographic fixing system, it is required that a substance generated at the time of high-temperature fixing and dispersed out of the system, specifically, sublimation substance-derived powder dust (dust) and volatile organic compound, are reduced to be not more than the regulatory level specified by ECMA-328/RAL_UZ122. In Japan, the regulatory levels of RAL_UZ122 after re-revision in 2008 are directly employed as the certification standards for eco-mark on a copying machine, a complex machine, etc., and conformation to these standards is demanded.
In such a movement, for example, Patent Document 1 has proposed an electrostatic image developing toner capable of balancing the low-temperature fixability and the blocking resistance while suppressing generation of dust at the time of fixing.